"I'm staggered by the demand for it," says Denis Lucey, owner of Bottega. "When I first started in restaurants in the 1980s, we'd put pork on and it would never sell . . . Now it's a staple."

Bottega will serve "Pork on the Sidewalk" as part of Melbourne's annual Roast Collection festival next month, which is devoting 20 of its 80 events to the pleasures of pig flesh.

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"It's an unprecedented showing for pork," says Natalie O'Brien, director of the three-year-old festival. "For years people worried pork was fatty; now it's more about flavour."

Festival guests can have a "Pig Day Out" at a Victorian farm, or enjoy nose-to-tail banquets.

It's a far cry from the days when most people only ate pork at Christmas. Judy Croagh, free-range farmer of Victorian Western Plains Pork, used to cold-call Melbourne restaurants for business. "Twelve years ago, I remember walking the streets, looking at menus and trying to talk to chefs. Pork was only for special occasions."

She now has between 50 to 100 restaurant clients a year, ranging from upmarket venues serving dishes such as whole suckling pig, pork belly and pork fillet, to pubs and new American-themed venues featuring barbecue pork ribs and pulled-pork sandwiches.

Croagh says pig farming is now highly regulated "and they have a grain-based diet, so they're very healthy".

Adrian Richardson, chef and owner of La Luna in Carlton, is a purveyor of pink. "The problem people have with pork is not knowing when it's cooked. Get it to 72 degrees Celsius and bingo — you're done and it's healthy."

A crackling-wrapped roll of roast pork is a mainstay of his menu, while specials include suckling pig and housemade smallgoods such as blood-sausage. "That's the beauty of pigs," he says. "Nothing is wasted."

John Lawson, chef at Mr Hive at Crown, serves a nose-to-tail sharing board and a deep fried pig's head, described on the menu as "Crispy Little Pig".

We've also developed a taste for American cuisine, in which pork features heavily. Southbank gastro-pub The Merrywell specialises in an open sandwich of Homer Simpson proportions, with house-made porchetta, pork belly, pancetta, smoked bacon, a fried egg and parmesan.

"We're very pro-pork," says chef Ewart Wardhaugh.

Which doesn't mean pro-cruelty. All restaurants cited in this article use products from free-range farms, saying it is what their customers demand.

Pork sales slumped temporarily following the 1995 film Babe, about an adorable talking pig who makes it his mission to avoid being eaten.

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But it was the 2008 animal welfare campaign "Lucy Speaks", in which a young girl voices the thoughts of a factory-farmed pig, that triggered industry reform in Australia.